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Monday 5 Oct 2026

Major 26-day tunnel upgrades get underway in Liverpool this weekend

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

With less than a week until £3.5m of upgrades to tunnels on the Merseyrail network, passengers are being advised to plan their journeys ahead of a 26-day railway closure.

From Sunday 11 October, Network Rail will waterproof and strengthen four underground tunnels on the Northern line to secure future rail journeys for years to come.

Across the Northern and Wirral lines, power control systems will also be modernised to make it easier to turn off the electrified rail for scheduled maintenance and emergency repairs.

The multi-million-pound investment will see:

• Strengthening of four tunnels
• Waterproofing tunnel walls
• Renewing the systems which isolate and control the electrified ‘third rail’

The scale of the work means the Northern line will close between Hunts Cross and Liverpool Central from Sunday 11 October to Friday 6 November.

On Sundays during this time, the closure will extend to Sandhills station on the Northern line and to parts of the Wirral line.

Rail replacement buses will run to keep passengers moving across the city region.

Ahead of the closure, the message to passengers is not to be ‘spooked’ by the upgrades and to use nationalrail.co.uk to plan journeys in advance.

Paul Owen, Network Rail Liverpool area director, said: "This is a significant £3.5m investment into the underground section of the Merseyrail network to maintain four Victorian-built tunnels for 21^st-century passengers.

“We understand that this work will be disruptive, so we’re working with Merseyrail to minimise the impact of the upgrades as much as possible and are asking passengers to plan their journeys using the National Rail or Merseyrail websites.”

Stephen Dodd, Merseyrail chief operating officer, said: “We'd like to thank our passengers for their patience while this important work is carried out. These upgrades will help improve the long-term reliability of the Northern Line and reduce the risk of future disruption. We encourage customers to plan ahead and check before they travel during the closure."

The major investment will mean more reliable journeys for the millions of passengers who use the Merseyrail network each year.**

Once work is complete, trains will run again from the morning of Saturday 7 November.

Passengers are encouraged to plan their journeys by visiting nationalrail.co.uk.